Chrysler Corporation soon set a crash program in place to make Airflows look more conventional. That was mainly in the form of redesinging grills and hoods. I wrote about facelifting DeSoto Airflows here.
Today's post deals with Chrysler Airflow front end facelifts.
The original Chrysler Airflow design.
Not all 1934 Chryslers were Airflows. The company also continued to make conventional (for the times) models such as this.
Because the Airflow represented a major engineering advance, including wind tunnel testing of body shapes, no attempt was made to link the grille's design to that of conventional CA and CB models. As mentioned above, slow Airflow sales forced Chrysler to make Airflows seem less Airflow-like. The easiest place to do that was the grille design.
Airstream was Chrysler's name for its new 1935 conventional, non-Airflow line. Shown here is its mildly streamlined grille.
And this is how that grille theme was carried over to 1935 Airflows. Body shapes required a wider opening, but the theme of thin, vertical bars and fewer, thicker horizontal chrome bars and slightly V'd prow, was carried over. Also note that Airstreams and Airflows had a similar theme for side air vents. Although less "functionally pure," the '35 Airflow grille is more attractive than the '34 original. Its crispness counterbalances what otherwise is a fairly "soft" body design.
Model year 1936 saw the "fencer's mask" grille fad that I wrote about here. I mentioned that "Chrysler's fencer's mask fronts were extreme versions of the style."
Like in 1935, the '36 Airflow version was a reshaped version of the Airstream theme. The angularity is gone, changing the overall appearance to a more consistent softness. Nothing necessarily wrong with that. Besides, soft, rounded shapes were prevalent American designs of that era, so this helped Airflows seem somewhat in line with American automotive fashions.
I wrote about the odd 1937 Chrysler front end design, and how it was restyled for 1938 here.
The final Airflow grille again carried over details from conventional Chryslers. But this design is much better, even restoring some of the crispness of 1935. The "whiskers" on the hood of the Royal in the previous image are drastically truncated here. Note that the outer edge angle blends with the angle of the grille frame -- a nice, professional touch, but structurally influenced by the hood cutline.
3 comments:
To my eye, Airflows and Shark Nose Grahams are still stunning, late Kaiser Manhattans too.
Sadly, no photos in the comments here so I can't post one of a Divco milk truck, which came out in 1937. Google it. They were very common in the olden days, through the 1950's. By 1960 milk was in cartons instead of heavy breakable bottles, stay at home moms became less common, and they all had a station wagon of their own.
Oh, if anyone read that and didn't look it up, the 1937 Divco truck had a very Airflowesque front end. I guess they thought "everyone hates the Airflow so we should copy it." Between the front end and the tall and slightly droopy split windshield shape they do have a certain distinctive personality. The Basset Hound of trucks.
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